(Newser)
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Officials at the Dover Air Force Base, beset by accusations that they horrificallymistreated the nation's war dead, punished the whistle-blowers who brought those abuses to light, according to a new report from the Office of Special Counsel. The special counsel sent its 39-page report on the abuses to the Air Force this week, threatening to publicly identify the officials in question unless the Air Force took "substantial" disciplinary action against them within 30 days, the New York Times reports.

"We applaud the whistle-blowers for their courage in coming forward," the head of the special counsel said. "We expect the Air Force will now take appropriate steps to discipline the wrongdoers and deter future acts of retaliation." The counsel wasn't satisfied with how the Air Force punished the officials accused of actually losing body parts and otherwise mismanaging the base—all were reassigned, but not fired—and says if it's not happy this time, it may ask a federal board to impose harsher penalties.